Megan KALMOE W4x (USA)
On the qualification for the A-final:
"It was awesome. That's what we come here to do, to race really really hard. The athletes are all so talented we've seen the field be really really close last year and this season as well. We expected a really close race and that's what we got today so we're happy that we executed well today."
Grace LATZ W4x (USA)
On the race:
"It's nice to go out there and kind of be in a dog fight and test your grit. That was a great race from everyone."
Grace PRENDERGAST (NZL)
On being the first New Zealand women's eight to compete in an Olympic Games:
"We're always trying to look to create history being the first New Zealand women's eight in the Olympics. We're not coming here just to compete, we want to create some more history and end up on the podium."
Serbia - Men's Pair
On capsizing in their heat
"It was hard to put it out of our mind. I was in the water and I thought, what's happening, what do I do now? So when teh judge said we could continue in the Olympics, I was really happy."
On their race today
"Our race today went much better."
Angus GROOM M4x (GBR)
On the Great Britain crew's development:
"We've come a long way from four years ago. In London (2012 Olympic Games), we came fifth in the quad (quadruple sculls) and our aim is to improve on that, we're really competing for a medal now. There's a lot of hard work gone into this project.
"We're all bringing something a bit different each into the project. Paul (STANNARD, GBR), our coach, has done some fantastic work with us and we're feeling a lot more confident now compared to three years ago. We've just got one more step now and we're ready to take it."
On the repechage race and on the rowers who missed out on a spot in the crew, Graeme THOMAS (GBR) and Charles COUSINS (GBR), through illness and injury respectively:
"There were calls in the boat going 'Graeme', 'Charles', all the guys who've not quite made it here, but they were instrumental in getting us here. That's really spurring us on."
Anne Lolk THOMSEN and Juliane RASMUSSEN LW2x - (DEN)
On their race today
Our performance was very good, we are happy with our race. We went out for a win, but we are satisfied the Chinese weren't farther ahead. We have some things we can improve still.
On cancelling racing yesterday
"It was a bit disappointing we couldn't race yesterday. We have to get that out of our bodies and now we are started. Now we are in it.
The weather was really bad yesterday. The side wind was really strong. I think it was the right decision that we didn't race, but it is always disappointing to wait. We are happy that the conditions are fair and rowable today."
On learning that the race was postponed after having prepared for it
We are both mothers so we have leaned to switch on and switch off.
On what their kids think
Our kids were cheering "come on mommy, come on mommy".
Julia EDWARD LW2x (NZL)
We're really happy with the rhythm we've got together. We are happy with how we sprinted toward the end and now just a few technical things to work on.
Yesterday with it be held off, just made us a little more excited - we happy to finally get started.
We coped really well, I think other crews were quite antsy, we just put our headphones in and pretended it was the day before our race again and got on with it.
Patricia OBEE LW2x - CAN
I think it was a well-executed race, it was what we wanted to do. We had some demons to push out after London2012. We trained to do it classy, we trained to do it patient and we did that really well.
We didn't have a great lead-up to London2012. We watched our best eight go out way too hard in their race, we said we didn't want to do that. Even knowing about it we weren't able to control those nerves and excitement. Today we showed ourselves it wasn't the Olympics that did it, it was our lead-up. But if we are prepared, we can do it well.
For me, controlling the nerves is knowing that, I have the best bow seat in the world behind me. I've raced with Lindsay a lot and she has never let me down. I know she feels that way about me, so I should feel that way about myself as well.
Are STRANDLI and Kristoffer BRUN LM2x (NOR)
It was a tough race, I think we needed that race to be ready for the next ones. It was tough, but good.
It is always like that, you had a good training period and tough pieces, but still there are a lot days before you kick off the competition and 2000m is always hard, no matter where we are. It comes like a shock to the body.
On being at the Olympic Games
It's the Olympics! There is a lot of stuff around. It is important to stay focused. It is the emotions, but it has also been a long time since we competed. The bodies are not used to giving full power for the whole 2000m, but after this race, we are used to it now. We are ready.
Robert LUECKEN M8+ (NED)
On how his crew did in the race:
"We are not happy. We had a bad race. We need to improve for the repechage. I think we were a little sloppy and too heavy in the front. We need to keep it more light and relaxed and a little bit higher rate."
On how they can get ready for the repechage:
"I think we know what we want. We can row very fast and we know we can do this, we know we can win here, but we need to execute the plan that we have better."
Gary and Paul O'DONOVANLM2x (IRL)
On their Olympic debut:
This is our Olympic debut, we were hoping to do it yesterday, but they got frightened of the weather.
We are quite confident that we can handle any conditions. It was just to make sure we didn't have nerves at our first Olympics. It is very exciting we were really looking forward to it yesterday. We were at the course and it was postponed one hour, then again one hour, 24 hours later we finally got to do it. It is a huge honour to represent our club and our country.
On winning their heat:
We are delighted, it gives us an extra boost to beat Italy. We are looking forward our next race, hopefully on Wednesday. We like to take it as cool as can be. I suppose there must have been some nerves, but we take it as it comes and as relaxed as we can.
Lee-Ann PERSSE and Kate CHRISTOWITZ W2- (RSA)
On their first race:
It was good to get the first race done. It was testing conditions out there, but it is an outdoor sport, that is what we prepare for. We knew it was going to be rough in Rio so we trained for that back home.
On racing being postponed yesterday:
It is frustrating not to race, but you have to roll with the punches. You need to be prepared for the conditions, for waiting around, for everything.
Alex GREGORY M4- (GBR)
On winning their first heat:
"The pressure valve's been released a little bit."
On having the race delayed a day:
"You just try and stay as normal as possible. Ultimately we've been training four years for this, so what's another day? It's just a normal race for us. it's the Olympics, it's bigger, it's everything for us, but you've got to treat it as a normal race."
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|
row2k's Olympics coverage is brought to you by:
row2k's Olympics coverage is brought to you by: